Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled a list of the year's recommended reading - and I'm thrilled to once again have a story included.

It's an honour to be listed among these writers.

Thanks to Herika Raymer, Terrie Leigh Relf and Tyree Campbell at Cover of Darkness for publishing my story.

Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror: Recommended Reading List: 2012

Joanne Anderton, “High Density”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #53
——— “The Bone Chime Song”, Light Touch Paper Stand Clear
Daniel Baker, “At The Crossroads”, Aurealis #51
Alan Baxter, “Cephalopoda Obsessia”, Bloodstones
——— “Crossroads and Carousels”, The Red Penny Papers
——— “Fear is the Sin”, From Stage Door Shadows
——— and Felicity Dowker, “Burning, Always Burning”, Damnation and Dames,
Eddy Burger, “Domestic Berserker”, Dark Edifice 3
Jenny Blackford, “The Sacrifice”, Aurealis #47
James Bradley, “Beauty’s Sister”, Penguin
Isobelle Carmody, “The Wolf Prince”, Metro Winds
——— “Metro Winds”, Metro Winds
Jay Caselberg, “Blind Pig”, Damnation and Dames
Steve Cameron, “If You Give This Girl a Ride”, Cover of Darkness 11
David Conyers and Brian M. Sammons, “The R’lyeh Singularity”, Cthulhu Unbound 3.
Terry Dowling , “Mariners’ Round”, Postscripts 28/29: Exotic Gothic 4
——— “The Way the Red Clown Hunts You”, Subterranean, Winter 2012
Thoraiya Dyer, “The Second Card Of The Major Arcana”, Apex
——— “Faet’s Fire”, Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear
——— “Surviving Film”, Bloodstones
Jacob Edwards, “Salt & Pepper”, Polluto 9¾: Witchfinders Vs The Evil Red
Marina Finlayson, “The Family Business”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #55
Joanna Galbraith, “The Keeper’s Heart”, The Coloured Lens #3
Michelle Goldsmith, “The Hound of Henry Hortinger”, Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke
Stephanie Gunn, “The Skin of the World”, Bloodstones
——— “Ghosts”, Epilogue
Lisa L. Hannett, Angela Slatter, “The Red Wedding”, Midnight and Moonshine
——— “Warp And Weft”, Midnight and Moonshine
——— “Prohibition Blues”, Damnation and Dames
Richard Harland, “A Mother’s Love”, Bloodstones
Narrelle M. Harris, “Thrall”, Showtime
Robert Hood, “Escena de un Asesinato”, Postscripts 28/29: Exotic Gothic 4
——— “Walking the Dead Beat”, Damnation and Dames
Deborah Kalin, “First They Came . . .”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #55
Pete Kempshall, “Dead Inside”, Bloodstones
——— “Sound and Fury”, Damnation and Dames
Margo Lanagan, “Isles Of The Sun”, Cracklescape
——— “Titty Anne and the Very, Very Hairy Man”, Meanjin, Volume 71, Number 4.
——— “Significant Dust”, Cracklescape
——— “Bajazzle”, Cracklescape
S. G. Larner, “Duck Creek Road”, Bloody Parchment: Hidden Things, Lost Things and other stories
Martin Livings, “Birthday Suit”, Living with the Dead
——— “The Ar-Dub”, Living with the Dead
Tracie McBride, “Drive, She Said”, Lovecraft eZine 14
Andrew J. McKiernan, “They Don’t Know That We Know What They Know”, Midnight Echo 8
——— “The Final Degustation of Doctor Ernest Blenheim”, Midnight Echo 7
Kelly Matsuura, “Hours on the Voodoo Clock”, Free Flash Fiction
Nicole Murphy, “Euryale”, Bloodstones
Jason Nahrung, “The Mornington Ride”, Epilogue
——— “Breaking the Wire”, Aurealis #47
Ian Nichols, “In the Dark”, Apex Magazine 37
Shauna O’Meara, “Blood Lillies”, Midnight Echo 8
Christopher Sequeria, “The Adventure of the Lost Specialist”, Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook
Helen Stubbs, “Sayuri’s Revenge”, Tales From the Bell Club
Anna Tambour, “King Wolf”, A Season in Carcosa
Kaaron Warren, “The Pickwick Syndrome”, Stories Of The Smoke
——— “Sky”, Through Splintered Walls
——— “Creek”, Through Splintered Walls
——— “The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club”, Postscripts 28/29: Exotic Gothic 4


And those in the Anthology:

Joanne Anderton, “Tied To The Waste”, Tales Of Talisman
R.J. Astruc, “The Cook of Pearl House, A Malay Sailor by the Name of Maurice”, Dark Edifice 2
Lee Battersby, “Comfort Ghost”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56
Alan Baxter, “Tiny Lives”, Daily Science Fiction
Jenny Blackford, “A Moveable Feast”, Bloodstones
Eddy Burger, “The Witch's Wardrobe”, Dark Edifice 3
Isobelle Carmody, “The Stone Witch”, Under My Hat
Jay Caselberg, “Beautiful”, The Washington Pastime
Stephen Dedman, “The Fall”, Exotic Gothic 4, Postscripts
Felicity Dowker, “To Wish On A Clockwork Heart”, Bread And Circuses
Terry Dowling, “Nightside Eye”, Cemetary Dance
Tom Dullemond, “Population Management”, Danse Macabre
Thoraiya Dyer, “Sleeping Beauty”, Epilogue
Will Elliot, “Hungry Man”, The One That Got Away
Jason Fischer, “Pigroot Flat”, Midnight Echo 8
Dirk Flinthart, “The Bull In Winter”, Bloodstones
Lisa L. Hannett, “Sweet Subtleties”, Clarkesworld
Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter, “Bella Beaufort Goes To War”, Midnight And Moonshine
Narrelle M. Harris, “Stalemate”, Showtime
Kathleen Jennings, “Kindling”, Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear
Gary Kemble, “Saturday Night at the Milkbar”, Midnight Echo 7
Margo Lanagan, “Crow And Caper, Caper And Crow”, Under My Hat
Martin Livings, “You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet”, Living With The Dead
Penelope Love, “A Small Bad Thing”, Bloodstones
Andrew J. McKiernan, “Torch Song”, From Stage Door Shadows
Karen Maric, “Anvil Of The Sun”, Aurealis
Faith Mudge, “Oracle's Tower”, To Spin A Darker Stair
Nicole Murphy, “The Black Star Killer”, Damnation And Dames
Jason Nahrung, “The Last Boat To Eden”, Surviving The End
Tansy Rayner Roberts, “What Books Survive”, Epilogue
Angela Slatter, “Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”, This Is Horror Webzine
Anna Tambour, “The Dog Who Wished He'd Never Heard Of Lovecraft”, Lovecraft Zine
Kyla Ward, “The Loquacious Cadaver”, The Lion And The Aardvark: Aesop's Modern Fables
Kaaron Warren, “River Of Memory”, Zombies Vs. Robots

Melbourne Noir Vampire Story.

My vampire story, Best Served Cold is now available in Disturbed #1. Alban Lake is a new publisher whose staff seems to consist of many of  Sam's Dot alumni. This quarterly digest was edited by the fabulous Terrie Leigh Relf, and I'm thrilled to have a story in the inaugural issue. It's also really cool to have my name on the cover and be featured in the advertising blurb.

"You’ll find some bent and tilted tales in the genres of dark fantasy, horror, and even some science fiction. Australian Steve Cameron’s “Best Served Cold” is a don’t-miss story. Other authors include Derek Muk, Adam Millard, David Gallay, James S. Dorr, and Marge Simon. And don’t miss the evocative “Cold War” by E. P. Fisher. So come get your spine tingled."

 Thanks Terrie and Alban.

To The Sea, To The Sea, To The Recovering Sea.

The newly released Shelter of Daylight #9, edited by Terri Leigh Relf, includes my short story, To The Sea, To The Sea, To The Recovering Sea.

I originally had the idea for this story down at Phillip Island waiting for the penguin parade. Some British relatives were visiting and we'd arrived really early, and so we were seated in an almost empty grandstand that faced straight onto the ocean.  What if, my mind began, this site is discovered and excavated in the future as an archaeological ruin, and the discoverers have no idea about the penguins landing here each night?

Why would a grandstand face the empty ocean?

And so the story developed from there. Except it didn't end up travelling in the direction I'd planned, as tales are wont to do, and so penguins, archaeologists and Philip Island never enter the narrative.

It's a story I like, and a world I might revisit in the future.